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icarusI've been so grateful today for all those helpful skating sites that describe how to complete a Salchow jump, that I thought, what info can I post that I know a thing or two about?
Well. I was a Buddhist nun for over a decade. So, okay, helpful hints on Buddhism.
Buddhist Basics 101
Karma.
The word has filtered into the English language, but I noticed last week when Kenneth Lay died that pop-karma and what Buddhists mean by karma are two very different things.
The popular idea of karma is someone getting what they deserved, "what goes around comes around," uhn-huh, honey. It's a little like Judgment Day where someone gets punished, and we can all feel satisfied that karma will get the bad guys in the end. Instead of leaving it up to God, we leave it up to karma.
The other side of karma, much less popular in the U.S. though it's big in India, is the fatalistic "It's my karma" idea. Where you just lay down and give in to bad circumstances without trying to change them, with the mistaken idea that Karma (here synonomous with Fate) is in charge. Some (note the disclaimer) forms of Hinduism do consider karma in this way, but this isn't the Buddhist idea.
There is some benefit to this idea from the Buddhist perspective in that you're less likely to be angry and blame others -- but there the similarity ends. While accepting that nothing arises without a cause and (so there must be some past karma), you immediately get to work on creating new positive karma. You don't lie down and play dead.
Are you always broke? Okay, in a past life you must not have been all that generous.
So be generous where you can. Offer kind words. Develop a generous attitude of being happy with others' good fortune. If you see a Save The Children Fund commercial and you're a college student who can't afford to give anything -- wish that you could. Or offer a prayer (any denomination is good) instead.
All of these things are types of generousity -- words, actions (like holding the door), thoughts. You thought that {{{hugs}}} on LJ was meaningless and can't create karma? Guess again.
I'm learning a lot about generousity watching WG and his family. Their generosity is continuous. They share news stories, clipping them out and mailing them to friends who might be interested. They give away small things, hats, gloves, packs, books, always have a cookie jar for the kids or bring over a casserole for the neighbors. They do the big gestures, but as Khenpo Palden Sherab once said, "the small virtues are like a leaky faucet: pretty soon the bucket is full."
The mind is our most valuable source for positive karma. Ven. Ponlop Rinpoche said in 2001, "Most karma is generated in the mind, by our intentions."
So if we consider that good karma is created through our actions, our words, and especially by our minds, or our good, broad-minded intent to help others, then let's look back on that "what goes around, comes around" idea of karma.
If we create good karma just by saying {{{hugs}}} with the intent to offer comfort in LJ, if the mind is that powerful, then what kind of karma are we creating when we're happy someone suffers?
Ooops.
Aye, there's the rub. It's just as easy to create bad karma as it is to create good karma.
But the way we define the word karma in our culture ("Ding, dong, the witch is dead! The wicked witch, the wicked witch!") is connected with this feeling of being happy at someone's suffering.
It's because we mistake karma for divine justice. Karma isn't justice. It's cold, infallible, and it's unfair, in the same way that mother nature is unfair. As my father used to say, "Mother Nature is cruel." And one National Geographic special on wild animals (or worse yet, insects) will convince anyone of that. Sure, it's the karma of the male praying mantis to be devoured by his mate, but it sucks. Worse yet, when that creature created this karma, they had no clue it would end up like this.
If there were no way out, no way to end the cycle of karma, then it would probably be best to just ignore it, have a nice life, and create good karma for your own future comfort.
But the Buddhist idea is that there is an end to all of that. There is an end to the cycle of karma within reach. Not only for yourself, but you can help others. That end is enlightenment.
And that, my friends, is what the meditating and living a good life is for.
Well. I was a Buddhist nun for over a decade. So, okay, helpful hints on Buddhism.
Buddhist Basics 101
Karma.
The word has filtered into the English language, but I noticed last week when Kenneth Lay died that pop-karma and what Buddhists mean by karma are two very different things.
The popular idea of karma is someone getting what they deserved, "what goes around comes around," uhn-huh, honey. It's a little like Judgment Day where someone gets punished, and we can all feel satisfied that karma will get the bad guys in the end. Instead of leaving it up to God, we leave it up to karma.
The other side of karma, much less popular in the U.S. though it's big in India, is the fatalistic "It's my karma" idea. Where you just lay down and give in to bad circumstances without trying to change them, with the mistaken idea that Karma (here synonomous with Fate) is in charge. Some (note the disclaimer) forms of Hinduism do consider karma in this way, but this isn't the Buddhist idea.
There is some benefit to this idea from the Buddhist perspective in that you're less likely to be angry and blame others -- but there the similarity ends. While accepting that nothing arises without a cause and (so there must be some past karma), you immediately get to work on creating new positive karma. You don't lie down and play dead.
Are you always broke? Okay, in a past life you must not have been all that generous.
So be generous where you can. Offer kind words. Develop a generous attitude of being happy with others' good fortune. If you see a Save The Children Fund commercial and you're a college student who can't afford to give anything -- wish that you could. Or offer a prayer (any denomination is good) instead.
All of these things are types of generousity -- words, actions (like holding the door), thoughts. You thought that {{{hugs}}} on LJ was meaningless and can't create karma? Guess again.
I'm learning a lot about generousity watching WG and his family. Their generosity is continuous. They share news stories, clipping them out and mailing them to friends who might be interested. They give away small things, hats, gloves, packs, books, always have a cookie jar for the kids or bring over a casserole for the neighbors. They do the big gestures, but as Khenpo Palden Sherab once said, "the small virtues are like a leaky faucet: pretty soon the bucket is full."
The mind is our most valuable source for positive karma. Ven. Ponlop Rinpoche said in 2001, "Most karma is generated in the mind, by our intentions."
So if we consider that good karma is created through our actions, our words, and especially by our minds, or our good, broad-minded intent to help others, then let's look back on that "what goes around, comes around" idea of karma.
If we create good karma just by saying {{{hugs}}} with the intent to offer comfort in LJ, if the mind is that powerful, then what kind of karma are we creating when we're happy someone suffers?
Ooops.
Aye, there's the rub. It's just as easy to create bad karma as it is to create good karma.
But the way we define the word karma in our culture ("Ding, dong, the witch is dead! The wicked witch, the wicked witch!") is connected with this feeling of being happy at someone's suffering.
It's because we mistake karma for divine justice. Karma isn't justice. It's cold, infallible, and it's unfair, in the same way that mother nature is unfair. As my father used to say, "Mother Nature is cruel." And one National Geographic special on wild animals (or worse yet, insects) will convince anyone of that. Sure, it's the karma of the male praying mantis to be devoured by his mate, but it sucks. Worse yet, when that creature created this karma, they had no clue it would end up like this.
If there were no way out, no way to end the cycle of karma, then it would probably be best to just ignore it, have a nice life, and create good karma for your own future comfort.
But the Buddhist idea is that there is an end to all of that. There is an end to the cycle of karma within reach. Not only for yourself, but you can help others. That end is enlightenment.
And that, my friends, is what the meditating and living a good life is for.
